Current Trends on Oil Sludge Characterization, Toxicity and Treatment Systems

Abstract

Oily sludge produced in the refineries contains various harmful contaminants and difficult to analyse Treatment of Petroleum Sludge is a major problem all over the world. More strict regulations are being imposed, which preservere the treatment technologies capable to deal with the hazardous pollutants. The inadvisable disposal of oil sludge leads to hazardous, due to the presence of high concentration of harmful substances. This paper presents critical review on the production, characterization, toxicity and biological treatment of petroleum sludge reported in various studies. Compared to usage and production of petroleum and oil based products, the pace of knowledge acquisition on treatment of petroleum and oil sludge is slower despite the availability of numerous treatment and remediation options. Also, the differences in performance of treatment methods and results reported from various literatures have been addressed to pave a way for a customized treatment solution to oil sludge contamination. There is a need to identify a cost effective solution through which toxic pollutants in the sludge is treated effectively with a potential to reuse as manure for cultivation of crops.